The 'I Ching' for Beginners

November 6, 2014 1:36 PM

11
0

In a 1965 interview Bob Dylan described the Chinese Bronze Age classic, the I Ching or Book of Change, as "the only thing that is amazingly true, period." The great Chinese philosopher Cheng Yi of the eleventh century agreed: "The I Ching is grand in its scope; it is all-encompassing. To those who contemplate its depth and practice its discipline, the text will provide everything."

This most ancient and powerful of all Chinese classics has deep roots in early magic, in the shamanistic divination practices of the Shang dynasty (second millennium BC). It later grew into a compendium of the Chinese perennial philosophy, providing a rich spiritual resource for men and women from a...